BANGOR (AP) – A Houlton man who is believed to be the first person in Maine to face federal charges of using a cell phone to download child pornography has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

Joshua Dunston, 28, was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Bangor by Judge John Woodcock, who told Dunston, “The images you downloaded were abhorrent.”

“The images of toddlers and perhaps babies that you find fascinating and arousing … the rest of society finds abhorrent, wrong and criminal,” the judge said.

Woodcock also sentenced Dunston, a convicted sex offender, to 10 years of supervised release with a number of conditions, including registering as a sex offender, not using a computer with access to the Internet without permission from his probation officer, and participating in a sex offender treatment program.

Dunston admitted using his T-Mobile cell phone account to post 30 photos that appeared to depict sexual exploitation of children to a personal Web page. He also admitted using his account to download child pornography onto his cell phone.

A law passed by Congress three years ago sets a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years for sex offenders convicted of possessing child pornography.

Dunston’s previous criminal record includes violating conditions of release, negotiating a worthless instrument, possession of sexually explicit materials and sexual abuse of a minor.

He pleaded guilty to the latest charge in September. In court Monday, Dunston apologized, “to all those around me and to the victims in the images I viewed. I’m looking forward to getting the help I need.”

The offending images were discovered by a T-Mobile employee last summer during a routine audit of customer accounts. The company notified federal law enforcement officials.

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-12-12-06 1042EST